Greetings from West Virginia,

We are sending this letter to some special people; friends or family who have shown up in our lives and made a permanent place in our hearts.  Our lives are richer because of you. 

Since leaving Hawaii in 1999 we have lived in Utah, Maryland, Virginia, and now West Virginia.  We have lost contact with some of you.  We miss you and cherish the memories of time spent with you.  We are sharing this letter with you because you are forever in our hearts and in our family history.

Our family has grown.  We now have five beautiful daughters.  I am proud of our girls and am going to brag a bit. Feel free to skip this part if you don't like to hear dads talking about their kids.  Elizabeth (born in Houston) is 21 and is a Junior at Utah State majoring in journalism and political science.  She is Editor-in-Chief for the Utah Statesman, the university newspaper.  The younger girls never let us forget that they miss their older sister Liz.  Asking Heavenly Father to keep Liz safe is a standard part of each of their prayers.  Emily (born in Idaho) is 17 and a Senior at Jefferson High School here in Jefferson County, West Virginia.  She is studentbody class Secretary, maintaining a 4.3 grade point average.  She plans to attend BYU Provo next year.  Rachel (born on Maui and who is Lahela to her dad) is 11 and in 6th grade at Shepardstown Middle School.  She plays on the girls basketball team. While at North Jefferson Elementary School last year, she won the county Young Writer’s contest for her age group and was invited to the state capitol in Charleston for an award ceremony and writing seminar.  That provided us an opportunity to see more of the beauty of West Virginia.  Rachel remains the undisputed champion of our family Easter egg hunt.  She has been known to find eggs months after Easter is just a memory.  She is also the world champion (as far as we know) of Varmint Hunter, a computer game.  She finally surpassed her dad.  Annie (born in Virginia) is 5 and just started Kindergarten at North Jefferson Elementary.  She holds the family record for jumping from high (and scary) places into dad’s arms.  She is now at half-way up the staircase.  It would be higher but dad decided that was the limit.   Shaylyn (emphasis on the Shay) was also born in Virginia and is 4.  She says she wants to be an artist and a cowgirl when she grows up.  I see our girls, and I know Karen and I have contributed something worthwhile to this world.

This past summer, Liz had an internship with the Ithaca Journal in Ithaca, New York.  We drove up to visit with her and continued on to Palmyra, where we visited the Smith farm and the sacred grove.  For those friends who are not of our faith, this is an important place in early Mormon Church history.  They certainly lived in circumstances that were less comfortable and convenient than ours.  The church has done a wonderful job in restoring the homes and giving us an idea of what it was like to live during that era.  Fortunately for us, they have also made it comfortable. It was a warm day. As we toured the old Smith farmhouse and felt the cool breeze from the modern air conditioning, we particularly appreciated the modern conveniences that were not available in the early 1800s. I casually commented to the young missionary guide, "We sure are fortunate the Smith family knew about modern air conditioning." She looked at me like she wasn't sure how to respond. The girls just rolled their eyes at their dad's typical attempt at humor.

Karen was recently called to serve as Primary President in our small branch in Charles Town, West Virginia.  She is blessing the lives of many families in the branch as well as their children.  We are part of the Winchester, Virginia stake.  I have learned that some of the Lawyer family came from this area.  We have some genealogy to do.

We live close to Harper’s Ferry, Antietam, Gettysburg and other historic civil war places.  The Shenandoah and Potomac rivers converge at Harper’s Ferry.  The Appalachian Trail also crosses there.

We have attached a few pictures to give you an idea of how much the girls have grown.  We hope you will stay in touch with us. 

Love,

Mark, Karen, and the girls